More with Sam Nover

with Jim Lachimia

PM: Were there sports figures you covered who ended up becoming good friends of yours?
S.N.: There were players more than coaches. Willie Stargell probably was the best friend I had among athletes. There's always an unwritten rule about getting too close to somebody when you're in the business, but Stargell and I transcended that. I mean we didn't go out to dinner together, but I would be part of any gathering or event that he had when he was raising money for sickle cell. When they had dinners and fundraisers, I was an integral part of what they did. I considered him a friend. Mark Malone went on to become a colleague and a friend. I was kind of a mentor to him [when he got into broadcasting]. And you know I had some adversarial relationships that turned out to be friendships too. [Former Pittsburgh Pirates manager and current Pirates adviser] Chuck Tanner and I were at each other's throats early in his managing career. I don't think he liked me, and I didn't like him, but we ended up being wonderful friends.

PM: Were you surprised that the Pittsburgh Maulers only lasted one year?
S.N.: I don't really remember what I thought about that. The USFL was the fledgling league. They were the orphans to the NFL. You know when you have a start-up league you have no idea what's going to happen. They could fold at halftime of a game, you know, so you just kind of enjoyed it for what it was worth. I remember I got a good buck for doing that, so I was hoping it was going to last a little bit longer, but man, it just died. I mean it came to a screeching halt after one year.

PM: What did Pittsburgh come to mean to you over the years, even though you were originally from Detroit?
S.N.: I was a dyed-in-the-wool Detroit fan - born and raised there and lived and died for those teams - but I wasn't in Pittsburgh two years when I completely lost my allegiance to Detroit and became a surrogate Pittsburgher. That's the only way I can describe it. People were shocked that I didn't care what happened to the Pistons, and the Lions and the Tigers anymore. It just didn't matter anymore, and it never has since. I never looked back. I've been a Pittsburgh fan since the early-'70s. Although I wasn't born and raised here, I consider Pittsburgh to be my home.

PM: Does "getting up and doing whatever you want" these days involve a lot of golf?
S.N.: Yeah, but I don't go overboard. There are people here who play seven days a week. I've never played more than three days a week. I have that discipline. I also work out three days a week at the fabulous health club on the property, and then the seventh day I just don't do anything. I alternate days. I play golf and the other days I work out - run on the treadmill for 45 minutes and lift weights - and I'm in pretty good shape for a guy my age, so I want to keep that up. I own a beautiful condominium in a gated golf community with three Jack Nicklaus golf courses. It has a preserve on one part of it and the three golf courses on the other. I live across the street from the golf course and right on the preserve. I sit and look out at the birds flying and the gators in the water and the wild boar stomping around back in the woods. It's kind of cool.